I've noticed a few of you mentioning your dogs got their vaccines in the hind lag area and not the neck. Please would you give me some advice and links about this? Thank you. :flwr:

Cathy Moon

7th October 2006, 10:10 PM

Pauline,
I will look for a link about it. I remembered Karlin and others saying that cavs who have SM would be better off having their vaccinations in the hind ends, not near the neck area, because SM causes a lot of pain and sensitivity there.

Until I became a member of this board, I didn't know about alternative vaccination sites. Our vets have been giving vaccinations in the scruff area (shoulder/neck). I was planning to have a discussion with the vet when their shots were due, even though our 3 don't have any signs of SM.

Then today when India was at the vet, hubster wanted to get her vaccinated at this office visit rather than waiting for her appointment next week. So I asked the vet if that would make India's possibly injured shoulder hurt more, and here the vet had already decided to vaccinate India's hind leg for the same reason! :)

I'm thinking the vet must choose the vaccination site based on individual situations. :flwr:

Karlin

7th October 2006, 11:02 PM

Vets will usually choose the scruff because there are few nerve endings there. However, talk to vets that have lots of cavaliers in their practice (like my own) and they will all tell you that cavaliers tend to cry out when vaccinated more than other breeds. Given the possibility of asymptomatic SM that could make shoulder/neck area injections very painful even though you might not even guess the dog has some syrinxes or pain due to the skull malformation that can cause SM and exists in most cavaliers, several neurologists say getting a vaccine in the hind leg is much preferable, just in case. That's certainly what I feel and if anyone's vet wonders why you are asking and doesn;t accept your explanation, print out Clare Rusbridge's intro to SM from my SM Infosite as she talks about the neck/shoulder area as often being a potential pain:

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/Syringomyelia%20made%20simple%20update.pdf

*Pauline*

8th October 2006, 02:44 PM

Thank you :flwr:

Maxxs_Mummy

8th October 2006, 05:48 PM

Maxx always has any injections in the top of his arm (front leg), not shoulder. The reason being is that he has a large syrinx at the base of his spine and James is worried that if he injects in his rump or back legs then it will irritate it.

I would ask your Vet if all shots could be given away from the neck and rump for this reason. :flwr:

Remali

9th October 2006, 02:24 AM

This is all very good to know, thank you for posting this and all the good information! Next time I am going to talk to my vet about this.

Nisha

9th October 2006, 11:00 AM

ohh i had no idea that you could vaccinate them on their hind leg. when i first went to the vet to get my two vaccinated i had no idea about any of this and yes my vet gave them each their shots in the scruff - back of neck..i actually expected them 2 cry out in pain but suprisingly they didnt seem to even notice anything had happened! (probably because of the food the vet put down for them while they were hving the shot :roll:)..next time they have any shots i will ask if it can be done on the hind leg